Rafi Manoukian

Age: 50 Occupation: Chief financial officer of USATV LLC Political experience: A little. Endorsements: None. Why are you running for Glendale City Council? My experience in the private sector as CFO and in the governmental sector will allow me to make a significant contribution to the financial well being of the city of Glendale. What sets you apart from the other candidates? I'm a CPA and understand accounting, budgets and finance. Glendale is expected to face a General Fund budget deficit upward of $10 million next fiscal year.

Who is Rafi Manoukian to blast the News-Press? Is he trying to run the city of Glendale because he's a councilman? The Glendale News-Press has been around before we heard of Rafi Manoukian. We have the News-Press to channel what goes on in our city. Is it a military secret to report that 1,000 Armenian immigrants are coming to Glendale? That's just stating facts and it's not a hate crime as was stated by Manoukian. Yes, our schools are overcrowded, those are also facts, let's face it. It takes a lot of tax dollars to run schools.

Shame! Shame! It's utterly unconscionable and deplorable that two of the City Council members, Gus Gomez and Rafi Manoukian, whom I consider compassionate and caring given their ethnic and cultural backgrounds, would vote against the purchase of a temporary shelter for the homeless in Glendale. Surely, we would expect these two men whose ethnic backgrounds would make them more sensitive to human deprivation and suffering, to demonstrate moral courage in taking the lead in providing assistance to the homeless persons in Glendale.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- Though Scott Wildman is no longer the area's assemblyman, he is anything but forgotten in the area. A farewell party held for the former Glendale representative at Brandview Collection raised about $15,000 for his Los Angeles City Council run, officials said Tuesday. About 200 people, including Glendale City Councilmen Gus Gomez and Rafi Manoukian, attended the event held on Monday, Wildman said. "It was bittersweet in some ways," he said.

The News-Press editorial of April 2 hit the mark in recognizing two of Glendale finest public servants. Glendale is extremely fortunate to have such devoted and unselfish councilmen as Gus Gomez and Rafi Monoukian. Mayor Gomez has served tirelessly and with great skill through a difficult and contentious year. Glendale is the better for having such a dedicated public servant. Thank you, Mayor Gomez, for serving the city with superior competence. Your constant gentlemanly demeanor in some mean-spirited times is an example for all. Best wishes to Rafi Manoukian, who this city is fortunate to have as our next mayor.

The Glendale City Council completed its reorganization process, selecting two former mayors for top leadership positions. Councilman Bob Yousefian was chosen to chair the Glendale Redevelopment Agency board, made up of the five council members. Yousefian was not present at the meeting. Chosen as vice chair was Councilman Ara Najarian. The immediate past mayor, Rafi Manoukian, was chosen to chair the city Housing Authority, made up of the council members and two public members.

As a longtime voter, I find myself very unhappy with the idea that we have to put up with Rafi Manoukian. Did we all forget his dirty political tricks in the past? Or that he had to file bankruptcy? What can he bring to the dais? Kind thoughts to Dave Weaver and John Drayman. More gadflies are needed each week to expose the dirt in Glendale. Helen Lucas Glendale Guns have no place in pizzerias On April 22, a group of protesters fought against the right to openly carry firearms around in public places.

I find immigration coverage complaints by Glendale City councilman Rafi Manoukian to be absolutely ridiculous. Mr. Manoukian certainly can air his disagreements with the Glendale News-Press in a letter to the editor, but to waste taxpayer time by raising the issue during a City Council meeting is outrageous. For him to then suggest he'd recommend the Human Rights Coalition look into the matter? Give me a break! Freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom to report the facts -- which is what the paper did this past week.

At first read, I thought Steve Mills' letter (April 15) was off base completely, and I started to write your paper to tell him so. But today, in viewing prior articles and the lack of them in your paper, I now agree! Mr. Starbird ignored Glendale's spending procedure by spending $113,000 of taxpayers' money without going through the normal procedure in seeking approval when the amount exceeded $5,000. Not one City Council person to date has questioned Mr. Starbird's inability to follow city procedure and law. To the contrary, most comments were condoned.

I wholeheartedly agree with city treasurer Ron Borucki that his position should be an appointed one. Some positions in city government should not be based on politics. The city treasurer needs to have a background in banking. We need the best-qualified candidate, not the most politically connected, the most popular, or the one who can raise the most campaign funds. The city treasurer should not be beholden to voters nor campaign donors; they need to do what is fiscally responsible and what is in the best interest of the city's assets.

Rather than raising money for his own campaign for city treasurer, Councilman Rafi Manoukian plans to set up a fundraising committee to battle a ballot measure that could prevent him from taking the job. While Manoukian is running unopposed for treasurer, Measure A, if passed, would convert the elected position into an appointed one. “The majority of my focus on the campaign will be against the measure,” Manoukian said in an interview, adding...

“If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me,” Socrates declared in arguing that his role as a gadfly was “to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth.” Barry Allen is no Socrates. But as much as the power structure of Glendale dismisses him as being an annoying hyper-critical person, he scored the kind of victory gadflies sometimes do in nailing former Glendale Councilman John Drayman. It’s far from clear whether Drayman is a crook, but Glendale cops and the FBI are asking a lot of questions and have serious suspicions that allow them and the media to use the word “investigation” in the same sentence with his name.

As a longtime voter, I find myself very unhappy with the idea that we have to put up with Rafi Manoukian. Did we all forget his dirty political tricks in the past? Or that he had to file bankruptcy? What can he bring to the dais? Kind thoughts to Dave Weaver and John Drayman. More gadflies are needed each week to expose the dirt in Glendale. Helen Lucas Glendale Guns have no place in pizzerias On April 22, a group of protesters fought against the right to openly carry firearms around in public places.

Elections can be very fickle. You think you’re supporting the candidate’s slant on the issues, but all that happens is that the campaign promises are soon forgotten and he or she is already campaigning for the next election. I supported Rafi Manoukian when he lost the election four years ago, and I was upset at the outcome. He really matured during those four years and had a chance to lick his wounds and reflect on his mistakes. On April 19, it was the first council meeting that I watched in more than a year.

CITY HALL — City Councilman John Drayman lost his reelection bid on Thursday, four years after he was elected to the dais with widespread support. After the final vote tally, former Councilman Rafi Manoukian maintained his first-place spot with 10,197 votes, and incumbent Dave Weaver came in second with 9,903, according to the city clerk’s office. Drayman stayed in third place, 61 votes behind Weaver. Weaver will return to the dais for a fifth term, while Manoukian will return for a third term four years after being ousted by Drayman.

CITY HALL — The reelection of City Councilmen John Drayman and Dave Weaver was thrown into doubt on Tuesday, with challenger Rafi Manoukian taking the top spot after the unofficial tally from all 57 precincts was announced. The results could take weeks to be finalized. The gap between Manoukian and Drayman was 162 votes, but there were roughly 3,000 ballots still be uncounted, including provisional and mail-ins that were turned in at the polls, according to the city clerk’s office.

Age: 50 Occupation: Chief financial officer of USATV LLC Political experience: A little. Endorsements: None. Why are you running for Glendale City Council? My experience in the private sector as CFO and in the governmental sector will allow me to make a significant contribution to the financial well being of the city of Glendale. What sets you apart from the other candidates? I'm a CPA and understand accounting, budgets and finance. Glendale is expected to face a General Fund budget deficit upward of $10 million next fiscal year.

The time has come for us to make a stand for cleaning up dirty politics! Enough is enough! I have had enough of Councilman Ara Najarian’s antics and his continual outbursts at City Council meetings (“Weaver elected to authority,” May 6). Weaver has been consistent throughout his term, and I’m curious as to why Rafi Manoukian was reappointed to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. He lost two elections in a row in 2007 and 2009, and Najarian, who appointed him once again to the authority, then rewards him. Compensation is about $10,000 a year.

CITY HALL — The City Council on Tuesday will tackle the thorny issue of who should be on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. Among the three sitting Glendale representatives up for reappointment are Mayor Frank Quintero, former Mayor Rafi Manoukian and police Lt. Carl Povilaitis. The authority has moved more into the limelight in recent years as it continues to blaze a political trail with the Federal Aviation Administration on a nighttime curfew for incoming and outgoing flights at Bob Hope Airport.